Bombs used in Boston were 'Al Qaeda inspired'

(NBC News) A detailed analysis of the bombs used at the Boston Marathon and during a firefight between the suspects and law enforcement shows how closely the bombmakers followed instructions from the digital al Qaeda magazine "Inspire," according to a government document obtained by NBC News.

The unclassified report from the Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical Center found that the pipe bombs allegedly thrown from a car by Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev during last Friday's chase through Watertown, Mass., resembled the design described in "How to Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom," an article in the first issue of the English-language magazine. At least one of the Watertown bombs used an elbow pipe wrapped in black tape, as discussed in "Inspire."

"The use of elbow pipes specifically is unique," states the report, "and rare in other extremist and anarchist literature."